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"The face of the operation is Briatore (referred to exclusively in the film by his colleagues and angry, chanting detractors as "Flavio"), an anthropomorphic radish who spends most of his time at QPR plotting to fire all of the managers."

At press time, Harbaugh had sent Michigan’s athletic department an envelope containing a heavily annotated seating chart, a list of the 63,000 seat views he had found unsatisfactory, and a glowing 70-page report on section 25, row 12, seat 9, which he claimed is “exactly what the great sport of football is all about.”

With sixteen commitments now on board it could start to get interesting for Michigan recruiting. They arguably have anywhere between 21-25 spots total for this class, which means they have at most 9 more scholarships available. Here's a look at what could happen next and some notes from a few prospects.

Eric Olson

6'6", 265 lbs.

Offensive lineman

Cambridge, Massachusetts

Olson's name popped up later than the other linemen Michigan has been looking at. He has an offer and took in Ann Arbor this past week.

Our flight was delayed so we got in late Tuesday night. We pushed everything to Wednesday, but I have a buddy who's a freshman there so we went out to dinner with him on Tuesday. On Wednesday we met with Coach Mallory, went to the business center, the academic center and met with the academic advisor. They took us on a tour, went to the facilities, the Big House, and Al Glick field house. It was pretty unbelievable, they have the best facilities of any school that I've been to. It's a pretty special place. I got chills walking down the tunnel and seeing the Go Blue across it. The Big House was great.

As I reported last time academics will be a huge factor in Eric's decision. He's done his homework on each school and got to see what Michigan has to offer in person.

The Ross business school is a prestigious place. They talked about the rankings and the opportunities you have from there. I asked how difficult it is to be on the football team and in the business school. They said that Zoltan Mesko did it and he was near the top of his class. With summer classes you can get some of the core classes out of the way.

With the academic side layed out clearly he also got a chance to sit down and talk with his potential position coach.

We met with Coach Funk and talked about his experiences and where he's coached. My school runs basically the exact same offense they want to run, a two-back pound it play-action offense. Their depth chart is a strong point for their recruitment because it's pretty wide open. There's a chance to play early there. Coach Hoke told us that he wants to recruit high character kids and his main focus is to get them a degree.

Since this was Olson's last visit he now has some thinking to do, but he's not sure of when a decision will come.

I've dabbled with the idea of going out to Stanford's camp, but I'm not sure. These past couple days we've been talking about it. We'll make a decision to either commit somewhere or I might go out to Stanford. I don't know when it could happen, could be a week, tomorrow, a couple weeks. I'm honestly not sure yet.

I believe him when he says he's not sure. I think he has it narrowed down in his head, but probably doesn't have his decision yet. That's at least as of when we spoke. If he decides not to go out to Stanford I think that bodes well for Michigan's chances. I'll have more on the offensive line situation further down.

Adam Bisnowaty

6'6", 275 lbs.

Offensive Lineman

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Bisnowaty was making his way through an unofficial visit tour and stopped in Ann Arbor to check out Michigan. The four star lineman's athletic director filled me in on how the visit went.

Adam told me that he really enjoyed the visit. He liked everything very much, and he said that he was impressed with the head coach. The facilities were out of sight, and I know we have nice facilities, but he said it was really great there. I think he's been interested in Michigan for awhile, how can you not be interested in Michigan. Academics are important for him, and our old head coach is friends with one of the new Michigan coaches. He's traveling out to Michigan, Notre Dame, Michigan State, and Purdue.

These trips were for Adam to gain more comfortability with each program, and to potentially help him make his final decision.

He's hoping to get [a decision] taken care of before the season, but I think he's realizing that might not be possible. He's planning on taking some official visits, and I doubt he'd take all five. His options are pretty open I don't think he's sold on any one over the other.

His athletic director, Mike O'Brien, had nothing bad to say about Adam and thought that any program would be lucky to have a kid like him. He'll probably know more about where he stands with each school once he's done taking his visits.

Erik Magnuson

6'6' 275 lbs.

Offensive Lineman

Carlsbad, California

As you know by now Erik has committed. He told me it would be happening around two weeks ago, he just wanted to take this visit to see everything in person. Now that he is committed he will be putting on his recruiting hat.

It wasn't anything that I expected at Michigan, it was crazy. It was such a cool place and everyone was so nice. I want to get the best players to commit there now so I've been talking to OL Isaac [Seumalo, 4 Star], DT Aziz Shittu, and OL Jordan Diamond. The coaches didn't know much about Isaac because he's from a small school, but they know of him now. If they offer him, we want to play together, so I think he'd be really interested.

Erik was on campus for the jersey reveal, but as I said on Twitter he was NOT allowed to attend the event.

They didn't want to take any chances with any NCAA stuff so I couldn't be in there. I did see some pictures of them and they look good. I'm going to try to come out there for the Notre Dame game with my family and then I'll probably take an official visit by myself for another game.

Magnuson was a huge pick up in himself, but it sounds like he could be a good recruiter for Michigan as well.

Se'Von Pittman

6'5", 245 lbs.

Defensive End

Canton, Ohio

I spoke with Pittman's head coach this past week, and since then there have been some rumors flying around. I'll discuss some of what I was told this week here and a little bit further down. First, here's what his coach had to say.

There's four schools that have never really wavered in his top group, Michigan, Ohio State, Notre Dame, and MSU are the four and the southern schools are in there because they've won National Championships and all that. When it comes down to it though I think that distance might be an issue for him. Brady and Greg have done a great job with him in recruiting. He plans on getting up there sometime at the end of the summer.

The Ohio State mess is not the only factor playing into why Pittman feels strongly about the Wolverines.

I've known Greg [Mattison] and Brady [Hoke} for awhile and think the world of them. Brady at Ball State, we spent a lot of time together. I've worked several camps with Greg at Notre Dame and MIchigan. He's a first class guy.

As far as how his recruitment is going to play out, his coach had this to say.

[Se'Von] wants to take a couple official visits. They're going to be game day officials because his intentions are to be a mid-year graduate and enroll early. He's done a lot of homework, he's gone to camps, spring balls, evertyhing. He might be going up to Michigan's camp, we have a couple kids going up there, so he might come up too.

I was told by someone that I trust, and that is very close to the situation, that Michigan a few weeks ago thought they were very close to landing PIttman. Since then I was told that they have slowed things down with him. I don't want to get into too much or speculate but we'll see how it plays out as he gets closer to his graduation, and if he does indeed graduate early. It's not over with him by any means.

Offensive and Defensive Line:

That's a good segue to now talk about where Michigan is at with both offensive and defensive line recruiting.

First the offensive line. With Magnuson committing that gives them a true left tackle and Ben Braden and Caleb Stacey on the interior. Michigan is still in great shape with Illinois OL Jordan Diamond. If you missed it I spoke with his mother about where they're at this past week. He and his family will be visiting Ann Arbor this week for the Sound Mind Sound Body camp, and will also pop in to see the coaches.

Eric Olson and Adam Brisnowaty are fresh off visits as I just talked about. Colorado OL Paul Thurston should be deciding within the next few months and has Michigan in his final group. Someone that hasn't been talked about much is Tennessee OL Blake Bars (6'5", 275 lbs, 4 star), who is originally from Michigan and is still an option. The coaches could potentially offer Magnuson's friend Isaac Seumalo, who happens to be ranked 175th overall in the nation per Rivals.

There is still some drama with the offensive line, however. Ohio State commit Kyle Kalistold me this past week that he is still committed to Ohio State but is listening to other schools. Michigan is one of those schools he's listening to and he could potentially visit. The possible kicker here is that Kalis and recent Michigan commit Tom Strobel are friends. I asked Kalis if Strobel's commitment would have any effect on him and he said, "I'm not sure, maybe." That might sound like nothing, but to me it sounds like Strobel has an opportunity to get in his friend's ear. This could be something to watch as Kalis has said the sanctions on OSU and their potential head coach would matter in his final decision.

You will likely see the final offensive line commits come from this group. What the combination is, I'm not sure yet.

As for defensive line recruiting, this gets a little more confusing. With Strobel's commitment Michigan now has DE Pharaoh Brown, DE/DT Matt Godin, DE/LB Mario Ojemudia, and the aforementioned Tom Strobel. The good thing about these commitments is that a lot of them are versatile and can be moved to different spots if necessary.

Michigan will likely take three more defensive line commitments. That sounds like a lot, but the prospects they're in on are the kind that you have to take. DE Chris Wormley has said openly that Michigan is his leader and I wouldn't expect him to wait much longer before deciding. Outside of Wormley you have DE Se'Von Pittman, DE Adolphus Washington, DT Ondre Pipkins [who should be visiting soon], and DT Aziz Shittu. I'm only going to include these names for now, because these are the kids I think MIchigan has the best shot at landing in the current time.

With what I mentioned about Pittman above I am wondering if that will alter anyone else's decision timeline. For example Adolphus Washington plans on announcing his decision at the Under Armour All American game, whereas Pittman plans on graduating early which means he needs to decide sooner than Washington. Wormley will likely announce before the season, and if he picks Michigan that's one less spot available between Washington and Pittman. If the coaches wait for Washington then it probably means they will not get Pittman.

Extra:

Pennsylvania RB Greg Garmon told me via text that he will be visiting Michigan on Monday. I'll have more from him soon, or after the visit.

Cali DT Aziz Shittu was mentioned above in the defensive line recruiting, because I think Michigan has a legitimate shot with him. Shittu has a top eleven right now that includes Michigan, Cal, Notre Dame, Auburn, USC, UCLA, Stanford, Florida, Washington, Arizona, and Nebraska. "I might make it out [to Michigan] for the Notre Dame game, those jerseys were dope," Shittu told me. Dope is good. He will probably wait to see how teams perform during the season before making any decisions. Ondre Pipkins has wavered on when he will make his decision, so Ondre's decision could potentially alter where Shittu ends up if he were to pick Michigan.

Pennsylvania DE Noah Spence is still interested in Michigan as well. His father told me this past week that they are just laying low for right now and letting Noah enjoy some time off. He just took the SAT on Saturday. Not a lot is going on right now, but the Michigan coaches did take a visit to his school during the evaluation period.

2013 WR LaQuon Treadwell is teammates with current commit DB Anthony Standifer. Treadwell is hoping for a Michigan offer, and there's a chance he would commit right away if he received the offer. The Michigan coaches plan on watching his film and going from there. Just something to keep an eye on. I'll have more from him later on.

Ohio RB Bri'Onte Dunn has been talked about a lot lately. I've previously reported that he and his father are waiting to find out what happens with the OSU sanctions, and they will definitely have an effect on his commitment. His father told me this past week that they plan on making it out to Penn State as the next stop, and there's also a chance that they will be at the Michigan-Notre Dame night game during the season.

Utah FB Sione Houma did not commit during his visit to Michigan this weekend. He doesn't say much, but he told me that his parents went with him on the trip, and that he could potentially see himself going to Michigan. He will probably wait everything out, and I think distance might factor in here.

To stick with the fullback theme, I mentioned on the board this past week that Michigan currently leads for Texas FB EJ Fatu. He doesn't talk much either, but he sounds pretty excited about Michigan. We'll see if he makes it up soon for a visit.

I've gotten a lot of questions about quarterbacks lately. Maty Mauk took a visit to Ann Arbor this past week and Indiana QB Gunner Kiel postpponed his announcement that was supposed to take place on Sunday [the 12th]. From what I was told I wouldn't get too excited about Kiel, but I'm not sure that anyone really knows what's going on. His family keeps everything very close and doesn't leak too much. Both quarterbacks will likely decide soon and Michigan is still in the mix for both of them. If they miss on both then I would expect Austin Appleby to become a real option. He plans on camping and if the coaches like what they see, he could get an offer. I preface all of that with the fact that I don't know what is going to happen with Mauk or Kiel---both keep everything quiet.

2013 instate OL Steve Elmer was offered by Wisconsin. He now holds offers from Wisconsin and Mississippi State. I spoke to his dad a few weeks ago, I just haven't posted the interview yet. That will go up this week.

there is the option of JuCo that way we could pick him up as a 2013 commitment unless michigan state takes him anyway. Which would make me upset because him and stanford are guys i really want in the class.

Hey Tom thanks for this I was excited about this when you said it would come out today in an earlier thread today.

I have two questions for you:

1) With all of these great offensive lineman (going with the rankings sites evaluations here) that we seem to have a decent chance with, what is it about Eric Olson that makes you think the coaches would accept a commitment from him with so few spots remaining.

2) With Wormley, Washington, Shittu, and Pipkins there are four great DL's. The first two are DE's but could become 3-techs, Shittu is a 3-Tech and Pipkins is a true nose tackle. My question is in your opinion would we take all four of them if they all called at the exact same time tomorrow and if not which one do you believe we would wait on? I know this is a hypothetical question but I was wondering what you thought since number of spots is definitely a good problem that we have right now.

In my first interview with Olson he said that he has told a number of programs that they shouldn't bother offering because he didn't think their academics qualified in his mind. The rankings and offer sheet he has isn't something you should judge him off of, because he's controlled who he wants to communicate with.

As for your second question, that's hard to answer because it depends on overall numbers and where they're at with other positions. There's a lot that would factor into that. I think it would be hard to turn any of them down, and by the looks of what they want to do right now it would probably only be taking one more spot than they're trying to do. I don't think it's a huge stretch to think they would take them, that is in this scenario you came up with.

Ok thanks that answered my question about Olson I was wondering what the reason for his low offer sheet was given his measurables. i guess as a side note and if you happen to read this again, do you peresonally feel as though the coaches feel confident enough in Washington and Stanford as to "slow things down" with Pittman or do you think it is more that they want to see how everything plays out in time and not fill the position before hand?

Finally what is the reason they have not offered Magnusons friend? He seems like a great OL , I just watched his film for a second time, and that is definitely a position of need. Although I like others slightly more, in particular Garnett, Diamond, Kalis and Banner, I do however like his film more than others that we seem to be going after that have had offers for quite some time now.

Tom, are the 16 verbals commits fairly solid? Will some of the earlier verbals see a better opportunity for early playing time elsewhere and de-commit? Do you see the coaching staff back off on cultivating their relationship with a verbal if they have the chance to get a commitment from another player that has greater potential?

i agree with that but some of the commitments may be wondering if they will have a spot on the depth chart to were they can get some good playing time so they may be thinking they will transfer. I think the coaches will talk to them about it before they decide. In the end it is the players choice.

... we don't know enough about the coaches to make such absolute statements. IIRC, RichRod slow played a few recruits who verballed early. I didn't agree with it then, and I hope it doesn't happen now, but unless you are on the coaching staff, you can't make such strong statements.

Do Something. If it works, do more of it. If it doesn't, do something else.

Absolutely not! We will never back off a player that we accepted an offer from. These are all great recruits that we offered very early, so we clearly want them all. With that said there is always a chance a player decommits for any reason but I promise you it will NOT be because of any such "cooling off" on the coaches behalf it would be that players decision and I hope NONE of our commited players decommit.

I was thinking the exact same thing while reading that. What Mesko did was extremely impressive and I don't know how many kids could do that. With that said if he is very smart like Tom says he could definitely be one of the very few who could. Like the idea that academics are very important to him though.

Well decommits are extremely common, but it's gonna be the players choice.

That was my main point, the coaches are not going to back off of a commit. It certainly seems that the loyalty that this class has is extraordinary, and they all are very excited about becoming a Wolverine. So I would assume that every one of our commits will be in Maize and Blue in 2012

I have a hunch that Zoltan, being a punter and all, may not have racked up as many hours in the weight room as a successful OL. That may have helped in the football/school balancing act. Just a thought...

No, but Missouri, Michigan, Alabama and toss in Tennessee are the schools I've consistently seen mentioned for him. And I'm also not sure where the not interested in Missouri thing came from, because he's very interested in Mizzou.

I think your missing some information on Pipkins. Mizzou is very much in the running for his services. Hes from Michigan and considers it more of a home then Mizzou, so Michigan and Michigan State are two programs he is very high on. Alabama is a big player here too. He may get excited over a Florida offer. Muschamp is a great coach (although I personally am not a fan of his) and a great recruiter.

I'm stil in favor of the Washington-Stanford package deal. That is, if they're still trying hard to come to the same school. A lot of time teammates say that, but, in the end, these guys have to do what is best for them...and not just because their friend goes. If we get them, awesome. If not, we have plenty of other solid options. "This is Michigan!"

As I said before, we will make room for whatever we need. The 85 cap limit IS NOT an issue in June of 2011. If we sign and are at 88 or so that will be a good thing. I promise you that number will go down after spring ball and summer camp next year. STOP worrying about the cap 14 months before we have to be under 85.

Shane Morris also said that he wants to have a word with Diamond at the Sound Body Sound Mind camp. These players are buying into what Hoke and Mattison are preaching and it sounds like THEY WANT TO WIN A NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP SOON! So its good to hear them trying to recruit their friends into the program.

"When your team is winning, be ready to be tough, because winning can make you soft. On the other hand, when your team is losing, stick by them. Keep believing."

But FWIW, I saw this exchange on twitter between Laquon Treadwell and Shane Morris where Laquon basically tells Shane that he will commit once he gets an offer. This does confirm what Tom said about Treadwell. Thought some people might want to see it.

I live in hardin county and I ride quite a bit with friends that are parents of players on the Kenton football team. From what I've gathered Mauk is a Notre Dame lock. He's just getting everything in line before he commits.

I live in hardin county and I ride quite a bit with friends that are parents of players on the Kenton football team. From what I've gathered Mauk is a Notre Dame lock. He's just getting everything in line before he commits.

I live in hardin county and I ride quite a bit with friends that are parents of players on the Kenton football team. From what I've gathered Mauk is a Notre Dame lock. He's just getting everything in line before he commits.